Gabonese Republic

National name: République Gabonaise

President: El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (1967)

Premier: Jean Eyeghe Ndong (2006)

Land area: 99,486 sq mi (257,669 sq km); total area: 103,347 sq mi (267,667 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 1,424,906 (growth rate: 2.1%); birth rate: 36.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 54.5/1000; life expectancy: 54.5; density per sq mi: 14

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Libreville, 661,600

Other large cities: Port-Gentil, 116,200; Franceville, 41,300

Monetary unit: CFA Franc

Languages: French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi

Ethnicity/race: Bantu tribes, including four major tribal groupings: Fang, Punu, Nzeiby, Mbede (Obamba/Bateke); other Africans and Europeans 10.8%, including 0.8% French and 0.8% persons of dual nationality

Religions: Christian 55%–75%, animist, Islam less than 1%

Literacy rate: 63% (1995 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $8.047 billion; per capita $5,800. Real growth rate: 2.1%. Inflation: 1.5%. Unemployment: 21% (1997 est.). Arable land: 1%. Agriculture: cocoa, coffee, sugar, palm oil, rubber; cattle; okoume (a tropical softwood); fish. Labor force: 640,000; agriculture 60%, industry 15%, services 25%. Industries: petroleum extraction and refining; manganese, gold; chemicals, ship repair, food and beverages, textiles, lumbering and plywood, cement. Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, diamond, niobium, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore, hydropower. Exports: $5.813 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): crude oil 77%, timber, manganese, uranium (2001). Imports: $1.533 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, construction materials. Major trading partners: U.S., China, France, UK (2004).

Member of French Community

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 38,400 (2003); mobile cellular: 300,000 (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 7 (and 11 repeaters), shortwave 3 (2001). Television broadcast stations: 3 (plus six repeaters) (2001). Internet hosts: 93 (2004). Internet users: 35,000 (2003).

Transportation: Railways: total: 814 km (2004). Highways: total: 8,464 km; paved: 838 km; unpaved: 7,626 km (2000 est.). Waterways: 1,600 km (310 km on Ogooue River) (2003). Ports and harbors: Gamba, Libreville, Lucinda, Owendo, Port-Gentil. Airports: 56 (2004 est.).

International disputes: UN presses Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane Island and to establish a maritime boundary in hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay; only a few hundred out of the 20,000 Republic of the Congo refugees who fled militia fighting in 2000 remain in Gabon.


 

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